Coatesville officer to have termination hearing

COATESVILLE — A police officer that has been on paid leave for more than 15 months for having an affair with a subordinate will have a termination hearing on Thursday.

Sgt. Chris McEvoy was placed on leave in August of 2011 after department leadership learned he was having an affair with Officer Amy Nicholl.

City Council will hear the facts of the case from both city attorneys and McEvoy’s attorney during a Loudermill hearing on Thursday at 6 p.m. A Loudermill hearing is a hearing that seeks to determine whether or not an employee committed an offense deemed worthy of termination.

City Manager Kirby Hudson said it has not yet been determined as to whether or not the hearing will be public. He said he has heard McEvoy’s team may be interested in making the hearing public and the city has no reason to oppose. A decision on whether or not it is public will be made in the coming days, he said.

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McEvoy’s attorney, Joseph Green, would not comment on whether or not his client is seeking a public hearing.

“We are looking forward to any opportunity we have at getting Sgt. McEvoy back to work,” Green said.

Hudson said there will be subpoenas sent out for testimony from various individuals in the police department that are no longer employed with the city. He did not provide names of those that are being subpoenaed. Former Chief Julius Canale ultimately made the decision to place McEvoy on leave and former Lt. Rita Shesko led the internal investigation into the affair. Both took an early-retirement package offered by the city earlier this year.

As the internal investigation began, attempts were made to search Nicholl’s cell phone and eventually a sealed search warrant was issued to seize the phone. That turned the investigation into a criminal one, however no criminal act was ever identified. Nicholl publicly testified that the relationship was consensual and in no way was the relationship part of any sexual harassment or assault.

According to reports, the phone contained graphic sexual images, including a sex tape. The search warrant was eventually unsealed and after a few months, the Chester County Court of Common Pleas order that Nicholl’s phone be returned to her.

The phone was returned, but Nicholl’s attorney asked that all copies of the data from the phone that the city made be returned to her. While some copies of files were returned, Shesko testified that the SIM card for the cell phone and all of the data on it was lost while it was in evidence at the Coatesville Police Department.

Nicholl had been on leave, but she returned to work in September.

The investigation involving the cell phone has brought the interest of the state attorney general’s office and they are now investigating the way the case was handled by the department. What exactly the office is investigating is unknown, but it does directly surround this case.